Marble Palace, Kolkata – A must visit

15 July, 2015

I have visited lots of interesting places in India and abroad but Kolkata has always mesmerized me. Kolkata is a vast city with many sights and scenes on offer. However, there are lots of things which are not mentioned in the guidebooks or anywhere else. These are the real treasures because hardly anyone knows about them. Even lots of locals have no idea about them sometimes! Let us take a look at one of these unknown yet must-visit places in Kolkata.

The Marble Palace (Google Places Review)
Why a palace? Aren’t there enough palaces in Rajasthan to explore? Why should you come to Kolkata and visit a palace of all things? That is the thing really. A palace is the last thing a tourist thinks of while coming to Kolkata and that alone makes it a must visit.
The palace is located amidst a north Kolkata thoroughfare and is located about five minutes away from a popular tourist destination – Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s house, and 5 kms away form rabindra sadan metro station

Getting into the palace
It isn’t hard to get inside the palace. There is one guard posted outside at all times. He lets people inside in exchange for money. The palace is listed as a “private residence” and that is why it is not open to tourists like other popular spots are.

Inside view
Once you get inside, you will feel like you have travelled into 17th century England. As you go inside and then turn back and look outside the gate, you will feel like you are straddling two worlds – one belonging to the present and another belonging to a long gone era. This feeling lasts for a good five minutes till it finally sinks in that you are inside and that you need to start exploring. As you start walking towards the staircase, you will find people sitting there, ready to take you inside. Do you need to pay them? Yes!

What to see?

The palace is composed of three floors with one rectangular shaped courtyard in between. The rooms are labeled with names like “music room” “living room” “mirror room” etc. The last room consists of two gigantic mirrors exported from Belgium and hence is named after them. The guides go to the extent of saying that these two mirrors are the largest mirrors in the world. While you are standing in front of these mirrors, looking at your own reflection, you will not find that to be an exaggeration at all. The ground floor consists of sculptures of all kinds, exported from various parts of the world. This room is rightly labeled as the “sculpture room”. The corridors are long and huge, the staircases are wide and the feeling is that of exploring a place which is worthy of a few more visits.